Unlikely Circumstances
by Kainslee
Summary: The year: 1976. Voldemort is on the rise and will do anything he can to get the 'lost' Black sibling to join, even if it means killing those around her. The story of how sometimes you have to trust those you hate to protect those you love. RLOC, AU


We were drawn from the weeds

We were brave like soldiers

Falling down under the pale moonlight

You were holding to me

Like a someone broken

And I couldn't tell you but I'm telling you now

Just let me hold you while you're falling apart

Just let me hold you so we both fall down

Fall on me

Tell me everything you want me to be

Forever with you forever in me

Ever the same

We would stand in the wind

We were free like water

Flowing down

Under the warmth of the sun

Now it's cold and we're scared

And we've both been shaken

Look at us

Man, this doesn't need to be the end

-Ever The Same- Rob Thomas-

Chapter One: Ever The Same

Lyra Black was nervous.

Very nervous, in fact.

Her twin brother, Sirius, had hinted around that his best mates were coming over during breakfast, which only meant that there was going to be trouble. One Sirius was enough, and when you added a messy-haired ladies man, an awkward, watery-eyed boy and a tall know-it-all, you got trouble.

Lyra knew that Sirius had every reason to be excited for having his friends over. It was the summer between their 6th and final year at Hogwarts, their school, he was seventeen and good-looking and as of June 3 rd, he lived in a rather nice house with only his sister as supervision. He could sleep as late as he liked, drink as much as he wanted and eat whenever and whatever he wanted. It was the perfect life.

Sure, how they got there wasn't perfect. Their parents had been abusive and hated Sirius for what he stood for, and Lyra for what she wouldn't do. They still had faith in Lyra, but eventually, they had disowned Sirius when he ran away to one of his best friend's houses. And wherever Sirius went, Lyra was sure to follow.

The house was probably the best thing that ever happened to them. Their Uncle Alphard had bought it for them when they turned seventeen and over their Christmas holiday during their 6th year, they cleaned it up, renovated it and made it livable. With the inheritance that Lyra was sill getting from their Great Aunt Walbruga, they could live comfortably without working.

Before breakfast, while Sirius was attempting to cook eggs and bacon, Lyra walked slowly around the open first floor of the house. There were only three rooms on the first floor, all connected by open doorways, and each room had large windows that let the pink, early-morning sun shine in. The kitchen was connected to the dining room and it had an open bar with barstools so people could watch the 'chef' cook and the living room was right outside of it at the same time. The furniture was brand new and all made of dark blue fabric. Everything, even the new television their Uncle Ted had bought them, was centered around the large, vast fireplace that was now put out. Portraits of their friends decorated the cream colored walls (they still hadn't decided what color to paint everything). It was the perfect house for two wild, stubborn teenagers.

Their two owls, Artemis and Apollo, stood side by side on a perch in the dining room, hooting happily to themselves while Sirius, wearing nothing but a pair of cut-off shorts, tried to cook the eggs without burning himself or his long hair. Lyra watched him through the doorway for a moment before climbing up on one of the barstools to get a better view.

"So who is coming, exactly?" she asked right as Sirius began to burn the bacon.

"Remus, James and Peter." he summoned two plates with his wand and began to plate their breakfast.

"Oh. Joy." Lyra muttered sarcastically.

"Hey, watch it, they're my best friends." he handed her a plate full of much more food than she could ever possibly eat. "And you get along with Jim."

"But it's the other two I can't stand. Peter's scared shitless of me and Remus is just a know-it-all."

"Peter isn't scared of you." Sirius hopped up onto counter and began to wolf down his food like a starving dog. "And Remus isn't a know-it-all, you're just jealous of him."

"Why would I be jealous?" Lyra scoffed. "Sure, I'd love to be a gangly nerd with a mummy boy's haircut.. And I'd just adore it if teachers worshiped the ground I walk on."

"You're jealous." Sirius sang.

Lyra threw a piece of bacon at him just as the door opened and a loud voice called out.

"HONEY, WE'RE HOME!"

Lyra proceeded to hit her head very hard against the counter, hoping it would knock her out enough to kill her. Three teenaged boys bounded in and after they rejoiced in their very animalistic fashion. Lyra watched them bound around, shout and hug each other like it was the last day on earth and they hadn't seen each other for years.

James was the first to approach her. He hadn't changed much over the summer- except for the fact that he was tan and he had his raven hair cut so it stuck up at all angles around his round face. He still wrapped Lyra in a close hug and kissed her cheek, like he had done thousands of times since they met when they were two.

"Lo there, Lyra!" he sang happily to her. "How has your summer been? Smashing, I hope."

"What peace pipe did you smoke this morning?" Lyra arched an eyebrow and shook her head.

James just grinned and shrugged. Lyra's eyes slowly roamed over Peter, who was trying to ignore her. He was round and short, almost shorter than her five foot three frame, and had slicked back brown hair. He was the one Lyra couldn't stand the most- just for his stupidity and ignorance. She hated ignorant people.

As her eyes roamed to Remus, they froze. He wasn't a mummy's boy any more. He had grown his hair out so that it was fashionably shaggy and fell into his eyes. He had also grown a good deal and had filled out. He was at least six foot three now, with broad shoulders and an easy-going smile that she had never seen on him before.

"I-I'm going to my garden." Lyra said, suddenly feeling very flustered.

Lyra hopped up off of her chair and headed outside into the cool air. Her garden took up most of the back yard. Common, but beautiful, flowers surrounded the edge, to keep non-wizards from looking at them, but on the inside there were exotic plants ranging from Wolfsbane to Helfsbane to simple herbs like sage and thyme. A large weeping willow tree stood in the very middle of the garden and hung over a wide hammock and overshadowed the plants that needed shade. This was Lyra's safe haven.

Lyra began to tend carefully to the Wolfsbane plants that stood juts barely underneath the shade of the willow. The leaves were a pretty golden color, but if someone tasted even a little bit of it without diluting it in water or mixing it in a potion, they would die a very slow and very painful death. Even the soil had to be mixed with silver so the plant would not poison the ground.

"Ohh, pretty plants!" James called as he, Sirius, Remus and Peter headed outside and all piled onto the hammock.

"That's Wolfsbane, isn't it?" asked Remus in his slightly-hoarse voice.

"Mmhmm."

"Why are you growing it here?" he rolled off of the hammock and knelt down next to her. "Isn't it just a new discovery?"

Lyra shrugged. "I guess, but it grows really well in this soil, so I'm growing some for Professor Sprout." she put her finger gently onto a leaf and watched as it curled towards her touch. "They've come up with a new potion to help werewolves and this is the key ingredient."

"Wait, what?" Sirius rolled backwards off of the hammock and crawled to Lyra's other side. "Explain."

"It's called Wolfsbane. It's supposed to help the wolf keep their mind and reduces the pain to nothing." Lyra sat back onto her heels and frowned. "We're almost done with it, Severus and I have been working with Professor Slughorn on it for months."

"What's in it?" Remus asked quietly. He ran his hands through his hair and sat back, dazed.

"Wolfsbane, unicorn hair, eye of newt and various other roots and herbs. You cut it all with a silver knife." Lyra counted each ingredient off on her fingers. "You brew it the first of each month, when the moon is right, and give it to the werewolf a week before the moon."

"D-Do you know where people can try it?" asked James, casting a knowing look at Remus. "You're great at Potions, Ly, do you know what's going on with it?"

"You just request it, I guess." Lyra shrugged and began to tend to the plant next to it- a Japanese Biting Fern. "Though it's just a project we were trying, we aren't sure if it will work next moon or not. We can't find a werewolf to test it on."

"How about R--" Peter tried to shout, but James cut him off with a hand over his mouth.

"Who?" Lyra turned around to look at him. "We could use a test subject."

"Nothing." Remus said quickly. "The moon is in two weeks, isn't it?" He said it more as a statement than a question.

"Yes, though I have no clue why you're interested in this rubbish. It's just a bit of fun Severus and I were having." Lyra stood up and brushed off her pants. "C'mon, let's go fly or something."

And that was how they spent the rest of the day- flying crazily around on their brooms until they were drunk with adrenaline. The day was the first carefree day that Lyra had in a long time, and that was saying something. Usually her days were full of stress or pain, but now, for once, she actually was having fun.

By the time they all were sound asleep in their beds, Lyra was in the throes of a nightmare. Usually, she never dreamed, but now it was something she had never experienced before. It was as if she were actually there instead of in her dream.

She was in the Malfoy family living room. The fireplace was large and made of white marble and the floors were of the nicest wood around. Three large sofas surrounded a large, throne-like chair that hadn't been there before. The familiar Malfoy tapestry hung above the fireplace and on either side was two Slytherin tapestries. Even though the Malfoy's claimed to be an ancient family, the Blacks were older. The Malfoy's dated back 500 years, the Black's dated back at least 2,000.

Lyra could feel the cold breeze on her arms, even though the fire was lit. A man who she had known most of her life sat on the 'throne' staring at her with an eerie, thin-lipped smile on his chalky-pale face. His narrow eyes were glowing red in the dim light. He was Lord Voldemort, the man who was in charge of the war that was quickly beginning to gain momentum in the wizarding world.

"Hello, Lyra." he said. His voice was silvery sounding and very thin. "I have been waiting for you for a long time."

"Hello, master." Lyra whispered, her own voice sounded hollow to her ears.

"Now, there is no need for you to talk because you know why you're here." he pointed to a couch by him. Lyra felt her body obey, even though she didn't want to. "It has come for me to summon you to join my inner circle. You hold a lot of promise for the Dark Arts and I know you will support and benefit our cause to it's full extent. I hope you have considered joining me."

Lyra wanted to scream, but she felt herself calmly saying. "And what if I choose not to?"

"The consequences will be dire. You are very close to your brother, are you not?"

A chill went down her spine and the fire suddenly went out. "Yes, Master, I am."

"Then you will join me, will you not?" his smile grew. He had Lyra trapped. "You wouldn't want to loose Sirius, would you?"

"No, sir." Lyra whispered, her voice barely audible.

"Then I will see you at our next meeting." his eerie smile grew. "Lucius Malfoy will inform you when the time comes near. It shouldn't be long…"

Lyra sat up in her bed with a gasp. She was soaked in an ice cold sweat and her heart was beating so hard that she could hear it in her ears. The 'dream' she had just wasn't a 'dream', it had been Lord Voldemort talking to her. That was the way he let the people he wanted to join him know that he wanted them. Once Lord Voldemort wanted you, there was no way to say no or escape.

Sure, Lyra could say no. She really wanted to say no more than anything, but she couldn't. He knew that Sirius was the one thing that she held closest to her. Sirius was a strong wizard, but Lord Voldemort could kill, or have him killed, in two seconds if he wished. Lyra only had two choices: say no and have Sirius, and possibly herself, die or join and just have a strong possibility of herself dying. The latter one was the only one she would even consider.

Being a Death Eater had been destined for her since birth. Sure, she loved being Pureblood and loved having connections and a large inheritance, but she could honestly care less if mixed blooded kids went to Hogwarts or existed. All Lyra cared about was becoming a Potions Master with Severus and having her own large garden out in the country. Becoming a Death Eater always seemed part of the plan, though. When you were a Black and a powerful wizard, you couldn't run from the Dark Lord.

Lyra knew she had to talk to Severus. He had become her best friend after all of their older friends had graduated and now she could honestly trust him with her life. He, too, was planning on becoming a Death Eater, but since he wasn't a 100 pureblood, he could wait until he graduated.

Looking at her clock, Lyra saw that it was just past midnight. If she knew Severus well enough, she knew that he would be awake researching for his own little projects. With a shaky sigh, she crawled out of bed and quietly tiptoed down the stairs into the living room. A tall figure was taking up all of the couch, snoring quietly. Lyra quietly looked over the back of the couch and groaned, Remus was asleep with a book on his chest and one arm slung high over his head.

Lyra knew that there was no way she was going back to bed now. She poked Remus with one finger, and then shoved him forcefully, but he didn't wake up. She bent down and shouted 'Chocolate Frog!' into his ear, but he still didn't wake up. When she was sure he was sound asleep, Lyra grabbed the Floo powder off of the fireplace and threw a heaping handful into the dull embers.

"Snape Manor, bedroom of Severus Snape."

The flames shone blue and Lyra crouched down next to the fire.

"Severus!" She hissed into the fire. "Severus! I need you!"

"What do you want?" the narrow face of Severus Snape appeared in the ashes. A scowl was prominent on his face. "I was working."

"I-I need you here." Lyra whispered. "Please, It's an emergency."

"You didn't give Lupin any Wolfsbane did you?" Severus shouted, sounding angry. "God, I knew he would want it!"

"What?" Lyra shook her head and leant closer to the fire. "No, it's not that. I don't even know what you're talking about. It's…the Dark Lord…just come here, please."

"Alright, stand back."

Lyra crawled back away from the fire and sat on the coffee table. Within seconds, Severus came through the flames, coughing quietly. He was painfully thin and chalky pale with a hooked nose and a wide mouth with lank, raven-colored hair. He was far from good looking, but there was something about him that made Lyra open up and trust him. Sure, he was mean at times and very sarcastic, and he needed to wash his hair more often, but he could listen when he tolerated someone and was painfully smart. He actually was the person who made Lyra passionate about potions.

"What?" he asked as soon as he saw her worried face. "What's wrong?"

Lyra looked down at her hands and shrugged. "He came to me." she whispered.

"Really?" Severus knelt down before her, sounding excited. "What did he say?"

"He wants me to join and be a part of his inner circle."

"Well, are you?" Severus's eyes opened wide. "If you are foolish enough to turn this down, I will hex you into next Tuesday!"

"I have no choice." Lyra shrugged helplessly. "He said he would kill Sirius if I didn't join."

"Well, then say no, it would be a nice…" he was interrupted by Lyra backhanding him upside the head. "Ouch, sorry. When do you get marked?"

"Lucius is supposed to come for me." Lyra shivered and wrapped her arms around her middle. "I just thought you should be the first to know." she paused and looked behind her to Remus, who was still snoring.

"Wait, was he here the whole time?" Severus looked to Remus and suddenly looked frightened.

"Believe me, he's out of it. I screamed in his ear and he didn't respond at all." She said quietly. "What were you saying about the Wolfsbane and Lupin? Why would he want some?"

"You don't know?" Severus's dark eyebrows went up into his hairline. "I thought that the imbecile you have for a brother would at least tell you."

"Tell me." Lyra leant forward and put her elbows onto her knees.

"I can't. Professor Dumbledore promised me not to tell…"

"Oh come on, I'm not going to spread anything around the school. I could care less what secrets lie behind Lupin's perfect little closet."

Severus sighed and ran a hand over his face. "Oh, all right. He's a werewolf."

"Really? Wicked! Now we have someone to test Wolfsbane on…" Lyra, much to Severus's shock, grinned.

Lyra could honestly care less what Remus was. He could have four eyes, eight hands and one hundred toes and she still would dislike him the same amount. She didn't judge people by what they were, she judged them on how they acted or their personalities.

"Aren't you going to stab him with a silver cross now?" drawled Severus. "With how much you despise him, I assumed you would want to go kill him."

"When you assume you make and ass out of you and me." Lyra tapped him on the nose. "I just want to use him as a…test subject…of sorts…"

"Well you can't mention a word to anyone, not even him, that you know. If Dumbledore finds out I'll be expelled. Then who would you have to copy off of?"

"I wasn't planning on it." grumbled Lyra.

Remus suddenly yawned and rolled over, making both Lyra and Severus jump.

"I've got to go." Severus said quietly. "Owl me, okay?"

"Okay, thanks for coming," Lyra hugged him briefly before standing up and throwing some powder into the fire.

Before Severus stepped into the green flames, he turned to Lyra and smiled faintly.

"You are so bloody lucky." he said with a shake of his head before stepping into the fire and disappearing from view.

"Who was that?" asked a hoarse voice from behind her.

Remus was sitting up and running his hands through his hair. He didn't look like he had been sleeping, though. Instead, his eyes were bright and wide awake. Lyra knew he had been asleep, though, no-one could fake-sleep that well.

"No-one." she said evenly.

"Oh, so throwing Floo powder into the fire is just a new hobby now?" he asked with a smile.

"Yup, it's loads of fun. You should give it a go." Lyra stood up and stretched. "Why are you on the couch, any way?"

"I couldn't sleep." Remus smiled sheepishly and pointed to his book. "So I came out here to read and fell asleep. Why are you up?"

"Couldn't sleep." Lyra lied. She couldn't help but feel proud of herself; if there was one thing that Blacks were good at, it was lying.

"Oh. So you decided to talk to the fire?" Remus arched an eyebrow and smirked.

"You must have been dreaming." Lyra smiled faintly at him. "Probably all of the booze you drank."

"I don't drink. Drinking's not good for you." Remus protested, though his eyes didn't meet hers and he turned a funny shade of red.

Lyra scoffed. "I saw you spike your butter beer. You're so full of shit it's leaking out of your ears."

"You speak so eloquently."

"Bite me." Lyra snapped angrily.

"No thanks." Remus sounded angry. He and Lyra always went from nice to arguing in two point two seconds; this was just how they were. "I forgot how nice you are." he growled under his breath.

"And I forgot how snobby you are!" Lyra turned to him and clapped her hands while rolling her eyes. "God, how Sirius can stand you, I don't know!"

With shaking hands, Lyra grabbed a half-empty pack of cigarettes off of the table and pulled one out. She didn't look at Remus as she lit it and took a long drag. She knew she probably was an interesting picture to him- what with her messy, tangled hair, her too-small nightgown and her chipped nails holding the half-smashed cigarette.

"Smoking's horrible for you, too." Remus said lightly. "You're going to get lung cancer and die."

Lyra exhaled a long plume of smoke. The light gray color matched her eyes perfectly. Her hands still trembled; in fact, her whole body was trembling, but she wasn't showing any emotion on her face. Unlike Sirius, she was harder to read for Remus, who was now staring at her.

"What are you looking at?" she snapped, her words cut through him hard and fast, like a knife.

"You're very hard to read." he said quietly.

"What?" Lyra stared at him like had grown a third head.

"You're just so different from Sirius, it's very weird." Remus explained. "He's so easy to read, all of his emotions are right on his face, but you don't express anything. It's like you don't feel any emotion."

"You're an odd one." Lyra said, waving her hand around so the glowing tip drew shapes in the air. "Did your mother drop you on your head when you were a baby?"

Remus, much to her surprise, grinned. "No, but my brother Romulus did multiple times."

"That explains a lot. Why do you care about what I'm feeling anyway?"

"Well, you're shaking hard enough that I'd think you're having a seizure if you weren't talking to me." Remus said pointedly. "That obviously means you're feeling something."

Lyra glared at him and crawled into the large easy chair next to the couch so that Remus wouldn't be able to see her shake. She drew her knees up to her chest and stared away and straight ahead so that he wouldn't see the fear in her eyes. He wouldn't understand any of the emotion she was feeling- he didn't have to join the Dark Lord.

"Now you're defensive because I hit a soft spot." he continued. "See, your arms are crossed over your chest and you're sucking on your cigarette like it's going to save you."

"Sod off." Lyra scowled. "You don't know jack."

"I seem to know more than you're letting on." Remus closed his book and set it on the table. The sound echoed loudly in Lyra's ears, even though it wasn't loud at all. Being in the presence of Remus was making her edgy and jumpy.

"Do you honestly want to know something about me? Here, let me give you a list of the things I despise!" Lyra all but shouted to him. "I hate white chocolate, the color plum, Sirius when he's a stubborn brat, the Dark Lord, Purebloods, Half-Bloods and Mudbloods, my middle name, organized religion and snotty, selfish brats who think that they're above everyone else because they think they can read people!"

"You seem to dislike a good deal of things." Remus said, sounding surprisingly calm. "But I'm not snotty or selfish, or I don't think I am, at least."

"I've seen you with Sirius!" Lyra leant forward and snubbed out her cigarette in the homemade ash-tray Sirius had made out of clay and macaroni. "How you all are a bunch of cheeky, cocky bastards who think the world is their oyster! You guys can get away with destroying our common room, but if we do it back we get detentions for a month! Everything works out for you!"

"No, it doesn't." Remus said quietly. "We still get an ungodly amount of detentions, and not everything is peachy keen for us, either."

"Oh don't give me that werewolf crap!" Lyra shouted. She suddenly was on a roll and her mouth was speaking before her mind had time to process it. "The potion Severus and I are creating is the next best thing to a cure! You all embrace the fact that you turn into a horse-sized monster every month!"

"Now that isn't true at all! I didn't have any friends until I met your brother and I was bitten when I was four! Try being four and having your bones splitting apart and not knowing why! Try having your mother not touch you for TWO YEARS until she realizes that you aren't dangerous! Try having to leave your own country because you can't attend school!" This was the first time that Remus sounded something other than calm. His eyes were blazing with unshed anger and he had ran his hands through his hair so it stood up in messy, tangled clumps.

"But it's improving for you, isn't it?" Lyra lit another cigarette, but Remus grabbed it from her and snubbed it out before she could even put her lips to it. "At least you have a family."

"Yeah, I guess." Remus looked at her and smiled. "You have Sirius, though. I'd love to have him for a brother."

"He's up for adoption if you wish." Lyra shivered and stared at the almost-empty pack of cigarettes longingly. "Doesn't work well with others, he's defensive about his food and requires a good amount of attention. Oh, and he's house trained."

"I'll leave him with you, then." Remus rolled his eyes and reached into his pocket, pulling out a half-mashed bar of chocolate. He broke a piece off and handed it to Lyra. "Here, have some chocolate. It'll make you stop shaking."

"No thank you, I don't know where that's been."

"My pocket. Eat some, it'll help." he handed her the chocolate, which Lyra stared at skeptically.

"If I die from poisoning, I'll haunt you as a ghost." she said before taking a small bite.

A soothing warmth spread from her fingertips to the very roots of her hair. She had never really felt anything quite like it before. Almost instantly, her shaking ceased and she relaxed enough to curl up into the chair and rest her head on the armrest. When she finally was relaxed enough to look at Remus, he had a smug grin upon his face.

"Thanks." Lyra grumbled. "What did you do? Charm it?"

"That's for me to know and you not too..." Remus smiled, but it quickly turned into a frown when someone coughed from upstairs. "Please, not a word to anyone about...you know..."

Lyra shrugged. "I won't unless you give me a reason too." she sighed and stood up, suddenly feeling more relaxed. "I'm going to go to bed...goodnight."

Without waiting for a reply, she headed back up the stairs and into her bedroom, where she actually had a peaceful dreamless sleep, which more than likely was going to be the last one she ever had.


End file.
